He deserves respect but we will not see him on a court until 2012...Hopefully heals up and becomes something...

+1.

He had a good stretch around the end of December if I recall. My guess would be that was when he was given a cortisone shot (100% speculation on my part but it would explain the initial struggles, followed by really good play for a couple of weeks, then big time regression, and then done for the season).

He never had a chance to show what he can do here when healthy. I do think it was a good signing with a reasonable contract, however, who was to know he'd need microfracture. This truly was a stroke of bad luck for Linas and the franchise.

Sorry Raptors_. This is one game from a couple of years ago. All NBA players have skills and all are capable of a career night. This was Linas'. Somewhere between your expectations of insane next season and, what seems like, the majority of posters here looking to drag him for a bag of digested dog food is where he'll be. My opinion is he is a decent starter on a bad team and a great 6-8th man on a really good team. I hope the Raptors become the latter with him in the next couple of seasons.

No. The Nuggets were over the luxury tax and every dollar spent on him would have been the equivalent of two i.e. a $3M contract would have cost them $6M. They were weary of paying him considering this. The Nuggets had his rights as they extended a qualifying offer so he was at their mercy when it came to the NBA. However, just because DEN offered the QO didn't mean he had to sign it. He was playing behind Carmelo therefore not getting much burn or development. Also it is well documented how many teams do not make an offer for a RFA if they think the team will match it - it ties the signing team in to a stalemate for 7 days waiting. Kleiza went to Europe to play and make more money. He came back to the NBA when the opportunity presented himself. To say the Nuggets let him walk does not give any indication of the true circumstances in his leaving of Denver.

Thanks Matt52 for adding to my point. And for what it's worth, ESPN has TYoung listed as a 4 on their depth chart. TYoung and DWill have the same/similar skill sets as a Kleiza, with the kicker that they are more athletic but not great rebounders.

Basically, players who played the 4 in college, and because they are not 6'10 and can shoot the 3-ball they are type cast NBA 3's. Do I want to overpay for a more athletic Kleiza? Not Really? Do I want to draft a good back-up 3/4 over a potential starting centre? Not Really.

Kleiza is not a good starter i agree. But off the bench he'd be amazing. I noticed that during the start of the season Kleiza was playing great and putting up double digits in ppg and grabbing a decent amount of rebounds. But as the season progressed you could tell that his knee was bothering him more and more, as a result he started missing shots and eventually he had to get surgery.

He's not a bad player, but as already stated in his tread, he was given way too much freedom. He's fine as a shooter when he's set, and he can take it to the hole, as long as its maybe 2-4 dribbles.... any more than tat and he needs to pass the damn ball. His post moves... is... meh, and his one on one game isn't very good.

He's fine as a bench player, maybe a started when used properly but the way the raps coaches used him, gave him too much power and he went above his abilities resulting in him looking like a trash player, and if his knee bothered him as much as some believe tat deffinently didn't help.

I am more than willing to give him another chance, his contract isnt horrid or nuthin considering wat we know is capable of him, ( he's untradable anyways). So yah... 2012 hopefully he'll be back... if not 2013 baby -_-